Cutest Baby

I entered Nolan in Regis & Kelly's cutest baby contest. I know I am prejudiced, but I really think Nolan is a beautiful baby. However, I will freely admit that he doesn't photograph well. He is so wiggly and doesn't hold his expressions long. Either that, or I am a crummy photographer.

I borrowed my Dad's new camera (it was a spur of the moment purchase he made, and it's a REALLY nice camera). In fact, he didn't even want to lend it to me overnight. Whatever--I persevered. ha! I must've taken 50 pictures and really wasn't thrilled with any of them.

I finally cropped this one (to remove some of the clutter from the background) and submitted it. We'll see what happens. I'd love to be in the top 5 and get him some money for college! I am not even asking for the grand prize. 5th place (and a $25,000 scholarship) is plenty!

Almighty Dollar

Bill and I went to TJ's parent-teacher conferences last night. They were pretty straight-forward. Mrs. T has no major concerns with him, and agrees with us that he has made tremendous strides since the beginning of the year. Apparently, he does occasionally get out of hand when playing with another little boy in his class, and he also likes to build catapults out of the math blocks. For obvious reasons, that's a no-no, but I found it a little amusing. Bill was also smiling (of course, it's his fault his five-year-old is building catapults anyway! I think he learned that watching Mythbusters with Bill).

We talked about next year and TJ's kindergarten schedule. It sounds like he will go to school for full days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then a half day on Friday afternoon. He will not have his current teacher, as she teaches 1/2 day kindergarten in the mornings. Parents can opt for that, but there's no busing for it, and I have found driving him everyday to be a huge hassle. So, he'll be in the full day, half-time program. Mrs. T is not sure if she'll still have her afternoon Young 5s class. The state is essentially penalizing schools for having that program, and Coopersville may cut it and replace it with regular kindergarten. It would be an awful shame if they did.

When Mrs. T said that, it reminded me of the talk on the state level to require schools to make kindergarten a 5 full-day program. The plan is that any school that does not make the change would not receive funding for their kindergarteners. I HATE this plan. I do not think five-year-olds need to be in school 8 hours a day. Mrs. T agrees 100%. She urged me to contact my state legislator and tell them what I think. What I think is that the almighty dollar is being placed ahead of a young child's well-being. The state doesn't like the fact that a kindergartener gets as much state funding as a fifth grader, when they aren't in school as often. Who cares? Why does it have to be about dollars? Why not keep the focus on what is best for the child?

I've also heard the argument that many working parents like the new plan, as they have to pay for a half day of day care. If kindergarten is full-day, they could save money. Ummm, again, you are putting money ahead of your child's best interest.

I told Mrs. T that if this plan does pass and becomes state law, I will likely home school Sam and Nolan for kindergarten. And then the school district wouldn't get a dime for either one of them.
She said she could totally see where I was coming from. I really do not want to homeschool, but if I have even the slightest reservation about my kids being in school that long, you betcha I'll keep them home!

So, Representative Dave Agema, be looking for a letter from me soon! This overly opinionated mother has a few thoughts to share with you!

61 degrees

We had a record high today. I thoroughly enjoyed the temperature, but could have done without the insanely strong wind gusts. There was a blue tarp blowing down the road. I thought about retrieving it, but I had no idea whose it was and really didn't want to lug it door to door, looking for its owner.

The boys enjoyed the weather too. TJ ran everywhere in his boots, since our yard is under about an inch of water. I noticed most of the neighbor kids were out enjoying the afternoon as well.

Nolan was outside a couple different times, once with me and once with Daddy. The look on his face was priceless. He looked awed, like he could not believe that he was outside and it wasn't freezing cold! He also loved the fact that I didn't make him wear his snowsuit today.

Sam had a hard time. He was outside with Bill for a little while before dinner and came inside crying. He was sure the sprinklers were going to turn on, and he wanted to wait outside until they did. Poor little guy. He's been asking all winter when the sprinklers would turn on, and we kept telling him 'not until spring'. He assumed today was spring.

Alas, winter is returning tomorrow night. But I sure did enjoy today's preview!

10 Months Old

Yes, another month has zipped by. Nolan is now only two months away from his first birthday. I can't believe how fast the months have gone by.

He still shows zero interest in crawling, but I have seen him on all fours twice (I think these were accidents). He is getting very interested in big people food and happily eats his baby food while his brothers eat their lunch. He also has supper when we do. I find he doesn't cry when he is sitting in his Bumbo on the table. I guess he wants to feel like he's a part of things. He is just starting to enjoy Honey Nut Cheerios, and has also munched on tiny pieces of bread.

I am really, really, REALLY tired of his 3-6 month clothing, but he is simply too small for the next size. And I hate to buy more 3-6 month clothing because I keep reminding myself he could have a growth spurt at any time.

Here are lots of pictures of him!

The 'official' 10-month picture:

Dinnertime:

Here is his in his Johnny Jump-Up. He is too small to jump in it. He tends to slowly spin in circles by pivoting on one foot. He isn't too fond of this contraption yet, but will put up with it if I am within eyesight:
He loves to stick out his tongue:

He loves to play in the laundry basket, although he usually prefers to be in there without the clothes!

This is how I found him napping yesterday. He is sleeping incognito!

Couple of Kid Funnies

You know, if I don't write these down, I'm going to forget them. I sure hope this blog never crashes! (that is a direct hint to Bill to back everything up for me)

Sam has been sick all weekend. Poor guy has really had a rough winter. He was running a fever on and off for about 48 hours, and now has diarrhea (oh joy!). Yesterday morning, he came into my room to tell me he needed "brestfest". I asked him if he was feeling better, and he said "Well, I don't have a heaver!" I believe he meant fever. Today his nose is running like a faucet and he still looks miserable. I asked him if he was sick of his cold and he said, "Yes, and I have a hot too".

TJ has gotten up a couple times in the past week to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. His room is right next to the main bath. But he refuses to go by himself at night. So, he will trudge into our room, wake up Bill (the fact that he wakes up Bill and not me amuses me endlessly) and then insist Bill accompany him to the bathroom. Last night, Bill felt like he was coming down with a cold and decided to sleep on the couch. So when TJ marched into our room at 1:30 a.m., he was stuck with me. I told him I was awake, and I would be right in the bathroom. TJ turned to walk into the bathroom and marched smack into the door frame. He was startled, but thankfully did not cry, and also did not wet his pants.

Judging by the artwork in the hall outside TJ's classroom, they discussed the Inauguration, and must have watched part of it on the TV in their room. Each child had their picture taken while standing in front of the television. In one hand, the child is holding a Barack Obama poster, in the other hand, they have an American flag. Next to their picture, there is a fill-in-the blank phrase. "I hope President Obama will..." and then the child could describe their wishes for Obama. They are really funny. TJ's says "I hope President Obama will ride trains with me", another child hopes Obama won't say bad words, and one child got close and said he hoped Obama would be a good president. Overall, most of the responses the kids gave were way off-base and really cute.

They seemed to have kept the day fairly non-partisan for the kids, which is how I prefer it, but TJ was still beyond horrified when I told him I didn't vote for Obama. Maybe he'll understand in 4 years. Just because the guy lives in the White House doesn't mean your mother has to like him.

To all of my relatives and friends who did vote for Obama, well, TJ will be relieved to hear it.

A New Mattress

I got a new mattress yesterday. We have needed a new one for a couple years now, but other things kept taking precedence (like buying a bed for TJ, then needing to buy bunk beds for TJ and Sam when we found out Nolan was on his way). We had our own supplier; a neighbor from Pendleton had his own mattress store. I had purchased from him before and he always gave me a great deal.

Apparently, he gave too many good deals and decided to close up shop before he went bankrupt. I knew about this, and Bill urged me to get over there and pick out a mattress before he closed. I finally did two weeks ago. I bought the floor model because the guy gave it to me for an unbelievable price (again, maybe that's why he never made any money!). The mattress was wrapped, so it was clean even though it had been on the floor for a few months. I agreed to let him keep the mattress until he was ready to close the doors for good.

When he delivered it last night, he thanked us for letting him hang onto it--he sold four more of that model. He gave us a really nice mattress pad as a thank-you (again, uh, that would be more lost profits!).

The mattress is a bit firmer than I was used to, but at least it's flat. I no longer feel like I'm sliding off the edge. Ahhhh. Heaven. This was the best thing that happened all week. Is that sad? :-)

TJ's report card

We are officially halfway through the school year. TJ came home with his report card yesterday. Report cards for Young 5's are pretty amusing. They don't get As, Bs, and Cs. They are graded by S (Successful), P (Progressing), T (Tries, has some success), and N (Needs more time). Here are some highlights from TJ's:

*Perfect attendance (woo hoo!)
*Can sort objects by color, shape, and size. Grade: T. Comment: Needed lots of prompting to sort. Mommy knows best: This was a boring task for TJ. If she had asked him to build a train or a space ship, he would have done it in a heartbeat. Of course, he NEEDS to learn to sort, so we'll work on that.
*Knows Basic Shapes. Grade: P. Comment: Did not know rectangle. Mommy does NOT know best. I had no idea! He really does not know what a rectangle is! Sam, however, knows what a pentagon and an octagon are! Clearly, Sam will need to tutor TJ in this area (Mommy will assist).
*Counts objects accurately to 25. Grade: P. Comment: Counts to 29 but skips 15. Um, why is he skipping 15? That's weird.

He successfully identified 21 of 26 upper case letters. That also surprised me. I would have expected that to be 25 or 26 out of 26. I wonder if he wasn't concentrating. He knew 21 of 26 lower case letters, which sounds about right to me.

He was also graded by his computer teacher (his grade was "Progressing Successfully") and his Physical Education teacher. It's a small school--he has the same teacher does both! TJ can gallop and hop well, but needs to work on skipping. That made me smile.

His music teacher also said he is doing well. Oddly enough, my child who sings beautifully and is always on pitch got his lowest grade for 'melody'. Whatever.

TJ has grown and changed so much. I can't believe how much one semester of school has done for him. He's still absolutely exhausted by Friday evening, but he loves school and never complains about going. And I still think his teacher is a saint for handling 18 other kids just like him.